Out of Body, Out of Mind
by KirikoAsakura
Summary: What would happen if Sora were turned into a ghost? A strange new creature appears on the Destiny Islands and attacks Sora, then kidnaps his body. Chapter 3 finally up! Multichapter Kingdom Hearts/Shaman King crossover, though other titles may appear.
1. Chapter 1: Recap

_A/N: Welcome to Out of Body, Out of Mind! Um… This is a story I came up with a little while back and I decided to try and post some of it up, maybe posting it up will push me to do something about finishing it... :D_

* * *

_**Chapter One: Recap**_

A girl was shown as she opened her eyes and found herself on a beach in front of a great sea. The beach's only distinctive features that could be seen were the white sand, a few scattered palm trees, and a beach cabin; all else was either blackened out or not within the girl's line of sight. The girl was in her mid-teens, of petite stature and slight athletic build, trim waist, and medium-sized breasts. Her skin was a light olive color, she had full, long, straight jet-black hair that fell to her thighs and shined a greenish color in the sunlight, and her wide eyes had a hint of mystery to them and were also green. She was wearing a light red tank top, a black short-sleeve hooded jacket, blue denim miniskirt with a red belt, black leggings and black tennis flats.

As she stood there, trying to figure out where she was, a tidal wave came out of nowhere at her. She didn't have much time to worry about the wave though, as she then felt an abrupt falling sensation and was over the water, falling into it, her jacket and hair fluttering in the wind. She closed her eyes again as her head hit the water and she fell through to the ocean's floor and landed on her feet and found that she could breathe. The girl looked around as a bright light shone up from beneath her.

The girl shielded her eyes from the light as a flock of white birds flew up around her; she watched as the birds flew up to the surface. After the birds had disappeared from sight, she looked down at her feet to find that she was standing in the middle of a floor made of stained glass and was formed into an image Sora and Roxas. Both boys were in relaxed positions facing each other with heads down and eyes closed; Sora was in front of a backdrop of the Destiny Islands and holing the Kingdom Key while Roxas was in front of an image Twilight Town and held Oblivion. Oathkeeper stood between them, blade down.

'_**The time to use your power will soon arrive. It's time to stop running…'** _the girl heard a strange but gentle voice calling out to her from above. The girl looked around her, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from when three balls of light seemed to leap out of her and each revealed a weapon: a two-handed sword, a shield sword, and a magical staff.

'_**You must choose…'** _the voice said, the girl then reached for the shield sword. _**'The power of defense, and the ability to protect your friends. Is this the power you choose?'** _The girl took the sword within her hand as the voice spoke.

'_Yes…' _the girl responded to the voice as she closed her eyes and held the sword to her chest, blade down. A door appeared on the other end of the stained glass. It was a light brown church door, the top had a chevron shape with an ornate top of stained glass in plum and aqua colors. The door itself was also quite ornate with raised and depressed sections that formed the shape of a cross with more raised sections on the foot of the door and the handles and was decorated with a vine-like design.

'_**Then the time has come for you to open the door, and to begin your journey,' **_the door swung open and the area filled with a white light; when it faded the girl was in another room almost identical to the previous room, except the background of the stained glass floor was different colors and the door was now behind her and shut once again.

'_**There will be times from now on when you will have to fight,'** _the voice said as the door disappeared and about five Shadows appeared around the girl. Upon seeing them, the girl tensed up.

The voice spoke to her again, _**'But you no longer have to be afraid…'**_

The creatures began to close in on the girl. Frightened, she started swinging aimlessly at them, but it did little good, the creatures seemed unaffected by her attacks. The girl began to get exhausted when a glimmering light shone from the sword in her hand. The light engulfed the sword and once it faded, the sword had transformed into a Keyblade; it was a whitish color with hues of pinks, blues and yellows with teeth in an ornate design that resembled a wing. The handle wrapped around a round hilt and ivory ivory in color resembling wings with a pink, heart-shaped jewel where the wings came came together at the point where the hilt and blade met; there was a wing at the end of the chain on the other end of the hilt.

In a fright, the girl closed her eyes and swung the key at the creature; when she opened her eyes, she realized that the monster had disappeared and the four remaining creatures seemed to be afraid of her now and ready to attack. The girl the readied her weapon as the creatures jumped her. Closing her eyes once again, the girl swung randomly and somehow managed to finish the monsters off. She opened her eyes in time to watch as an illuminated path leading off of the glass floor and leading to another similar platform above appeared.

The girl ran up the path, fighting a few other creatures along the way, when she got there, she found it to be the same, a stained glass floor with the same pattern only a different background color and the same door on the other side. The girl ran over to the door and when she got there, it disappeared. Wisps of darkness then wrapped around her as it engulfed her.

The darkness showed the girl a vision of the past, Sora stood in the entrance hall of Hallow Bastion confronting Riku. The first boy stood with Goofy and Donald and holding a toy sword; Riku wielded the Kingdom Key and stood alone. "I know now I don't need the Keyblade," the first boy said, "I've got a better weapon; my _heart_!"

"Your heart?!" the blue haired boy exclaimed, striking his free hand down. "What good will that weak little thing do for you?!"

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not _alone_," the first boy placed his hand on his chest, "It's _grown_ with each new experience and it's found a _home_ with all the _friends_ I've made. I've become a part of _their_ heart just as _they've_ become a part of _mine_. And if they think of me now and then, if they don't forget me… then our hearts will be one. I don't _need_ a weapon. My _friends_ are _my_ power!" The first boy prepared to attack the second with the toy sword when a bright light shone around the key in the second boy's hand and disappeared, much to the surprise of its wielder; it then reappeared in first's hands just as a light illuminated the area.

After the vision, the girl was on the floor, curled up in the fetal position, grasping at her heart. She opened her eyes and stood up as she realized she was no longer in the darkness and had returned to the same room, only the floor was a different color. The girl looked behind her, her shadow seemed to grow longer and transformed into a Darkside. The monster reached down to hit the girl; she dodged as the rainbow-colored Keyblade appeared in her hands and she struck at it.

XXX

In another vision shown to the girl, Riku approached Sora, who was kneeling on the ground clenching onto his chest. The first boy pointed a red and black Keyblade at the one on the floor.

"_**So," **_the boy said, a grown man's baritone voice could be heard added to the boy's. _**"I shall release you now, princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door! Lead me into everlasting darkness!" **_The boy moved to strike down upon the other, who looked like he'd just about given up.

"Sora!"Kairi's voice shouted from somewhere inside the boy's head, he suddenly jumped up and used the Kingdom Key to block the attack.

"Forget it!" the boy yelled, enraged as he pushed the attack off. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!!" the vision faded out into another where Sora stood in a large, dark space.

"You're _wrong_!" he exclaimed as he crouched down for the attack. Donald and Goofy were behind him once again, and they were facing Xehanort's Heartless. The Door to Darkness was behind the man.

"I know now," the boy shouted. "_Without_ a doubt, Kingdom Hearts is _light_!" the boy shouted as the dtoor to the light swung open filled the space with a pure white light.

"…Light…"the man moaned weakly as the light engulfed him.

XXX

The large creature screamed in agony as it dissipated. The girl landed softly on her feet as the Keyblade disappeared from her hands; after a few seconds, she fell to her knees. After catching her breath, the girl got up as another door appeared in front of her. She opened the door and stepped through it. As she stepped through the door a few random images flashed, they were indistinct and very little or scattered sound was heard from any of these images though the image of a man in a black coat in a field at night stuck out.

When she got to the next room, the door closed behind her and disappeared as three Dusks appeared. As usual upon appearing, their seemingly featureless faces opened like a zipper to reveal their black faces.

One of these creatures struck at the girl with its, arms, yeah… Her body naturally reacted and skidded behind the creature and struck it in the back, defeating it. One of the remaining two jumped up to come down on her from the back, the girl turned around and struck it in the side, it dissipated and sliced through the third from head to toe. After her battle finished, the girl was engulfed by light as another vision appeared before her.

"I think I liked it better when they were on my side!" Axel exclaimed as he and Sora stood back-to-back, surrounded by thousands of Dusks.

"Feeling a little… regret?" the boy said as he turned his head towards the man with a smug look on his face.

"Nah, I can take these punks. Heh, watch this!" The man set off an explosion of fire that surrounded and lit up the entire area. When the light faded, the stained-glass floor was seen again, but this time, it was only of Sora, and the boy holding his Keyblade and was standing on the glass, watching the movements of the hooded Roxas, who hovered several feet over the glass holding Oblivion and Oathkeeper.

"I see. That's why," The Nobody said, he jumped down and started striking mercilessly upon the boy, who blocked all of these attacks, but eventually fell to his knees where the first used the chance to knock the Key out of Sora's hand. The boy ran after his weapon when the other figure thrust the white key upon it, making it impossible for him to grab it. The figure pointed the black key at the boy's face. The boy stretched out his hand, making his Key disappear.

"What?!" the figure exclaimed. The blade reappeared in its master's hand, he stood and slashed at the figure; after several seconds, the Keyblades disappeared from his hands and he stepped past the other boy then fell to his knees, causing his hood to fall back revealing the Nobody's face. After a few seconds, he got up and turned to the first:

"You make a good other," light filled the area.

XXX

When the light faded, the girl was standing weakly as she held her hands over her mouth and her chest. Seconds later, she heard some sort of growling behind her and turned around as another creature appeared in front of her. It was a Twilight Thorn. The area of the creature's face where the mouth would typically be began to glow as black-and-white lightning-like streams came flowing out of it. The girl managed to dodge a few of them, but one hit her, causing her saliva and a bit of blood to fly out of her mouth.

Xemnas created several duplicates of himself, as he did Sora attacked one of the man's duplicates, it turned out to be a fake. The real Nobody used a lightning attack to hold the boy suspended. Riku pushed himself past the remaining duplicate and struck at the real man, releasing his grip on Sora. At that time, the scene seemed to fade out.

The girl seemed to have been fighting the creature for a while now. The girl was above the creature as it was gathering energy at its mouth for an attack. The girl threw her key at the energy, causing it to explode. The creature landed on its stomach as the girl landed on her feet in front of its head and struck at its face as light once again surrounded the area

Sora found himself in the middle of a vast, pristine field. The boy felt a tingling sensation and looked at his hands as they began to disappear. Wisps of darkness licked around him as he turned around to find a towering shadow surrounded by hundreds of unidentifiable blackish-red creatures. The boy pulled out his Keyblade and prepared to attack when something caught his eye. It was the girl. It seemed as if she was being sucked into the darkness, the boy seemed to mouth out something, though no words came out, as he reached out his hand to grab hers when everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2: Strange Dream & An Attack

**Chapter Two: Strange Dreams & An Attack**

Sora woke up in his bed, thrusting himself up into a sitting position, the covers ruffling at the sudden movement; he was out of breath. After a couple seconds, the boy clasped his forehead. As he came to his senses, the boy realized he was back in his home on the Destiny Islands and had been dreaming. For some strange reason, he had been sleeping in his clothes, except he didn't seem to be wearing the jacket.

"A bad dream…" the boy muttered to himself as he swung his legs off of the bed and slipped his feet into his shoes. He held out his arms as he thrust his torso back onto the bed, the crown pendant around his neck clinking at his movement; meanwhile, the girl from the dream was lying on _her_ bed the same way, only in a more girlish style. She was wearing pink summery pajamas.

"So _strange_," the girl uttered. "Wonder what it meant…" both the boy and the girl as they turned their heads to look at their respective hand and said:

"I've got a _bad_ feeling about this…"

"Hey! Sora!" a girl's voice could be heard shouting. The boy, who shot up and blushed as he looked around at the sound of the girl's voice, looked out his window to find his three friends Riku, Kairi and Selphie.

The two girls were wearing their school uniforms while the boy was wearing the same street clothes he'd returned to the Islands in.

"Sora…! What're you still doing in _bed_?!" the brown-haired girl asked, shouting up at the boy, who had picked up his jacket off the bed, shook it off and was now in the process of putting it on. "If you don't hurry up, we're gonna be _late_!"

"Hi, Selphie…" the boy responded, smirking as he leaned against the windowsill, having completed putting the jacket on.

"Hey, look on the _bright_ side," the other boy smirked. "If we _are_ late, the three of us can just _blame_ Sora," The two girls giggled as Sora jumped out the window and play tackled his friend.

"I _heard_ that, Riku!"

"I know," the boy addressed commented as he was blocking his friend from punching him in the face. "I saw you were already dressed; I figured saying something like _that_ would get you going _faster_."

The first boy glared as he grabbed onto the redheaded girl's hand, clasping at the wrist, and began to pull her forward causing her to blush, "C'mon, Kairi…"

XXX

School had just let out and Sora started out to home, still looking distant. The school was a typical looking Japanese-style school; a three story white building with a stone fence around it guarded by an iron gate. It seemed to be a K-12 school as a couple five-year olds ran past the boy, laughing and screaming as he approached the gate.

"Sora! Wait up!" a girl's voice could be heard from behind the boy. He turned around towards the voice, it was Kairi, the boy looked at her for a couple seconds. The girl saw the boy's face turn red as he turned back around and continued walking. Concerned and frustrated, her own face flushed as she quickened her pace to catch up with the boy. Right as she was about to catch up Riku stepped up and blocked the other boy's way.

"You've been acting a just little too weird today," the blue-haired boy said plainly. "What's going on?" The first boy tried to walk past his friend, but his way was blocked. After a few seconds of dodging and blocking, the first boy finally found an opening to slip through and dashed past the second. When he was about five feet ahead, the boy turned his head to the side to face his friends.

"I can't talk about it here…" he said in a tone that seemed to say, 'Follow me', and continued walking. Confused, the other two looked at each other.

"What's going on with him today?" the girl whispered. "He was fine yesterday…"

"How should I know? You're the one dating him."

"You've spent more time with him over the past year than I have."

"True. But he was unconscious for most of it… Anyway, we should follow him," and they followed the boy.

XXX

The girl from the dream lay on her bed, still wearing her school uniform; a gray vest and miniskirt, a white short-sleeve blouse with red bow tie, and white knee socks. A gray jacket, black and pink backpack and brown loafers could be seen strewn out on the floor. The girl was listening to a sort of music player, some light pop song could be heard from the ear buds in her ears. A soft knock came at the door as her mother, a woman of middle age who looked like her daughter only with shorter, curly hair and wearing a Japanese smok-style housecoat and a kerchief in her hair, entered.

"Renée, honey,"the woman addressed the girl with a soft voice. "Dinner's ready, are you going to eat?"

"…I'll be down in a few minutes…"

"Renée, what's wrong?"the girl's mother looked concerned.

"I just had this really strange dream that's all…"the girl said as she turned off the music player and pulled the buds out of her ears.

"Your aunt, my sister, interprets dreams, would you like to call her and tell her about it?"

"That's the thing, I feel I shouldn't tell anyone about it. But I also feel I gotta tell _someone_…"

"Then, why don't you just tell me about it?"

"Well, there was this, _boy_. He was fighting; always _fighting_, I didn't quite understand it. Like it was a glimpse into someone else's past, _his_ past… I also seem to remember some even weirder sequences of _myself_ fighting and a couple other things that didn't really make much sense. And then, the same boy was in this wide, open field and he started to disappear when this huge _shadow_ appeared surrounded by all these, _monsters_, I don't know… Then he pulled out this giant _key_ when something caught his eye. It was _me_. He reached out his hand to grab mine, and that's when I woke up."

The girl's mother looked at her with a gentle look of concern on her face.

XXX

A steady rainfall began to fall upon the islands as Sora, Riku and Kairi ran into a sort of small shed. Sora entered first followed by Kairi, who stepped to the side of the door and worked to ring out her skirt. The boy pulled off his jacket and rung it out as Riku entered.

"Okay, we're alone," the boy said as he used his hand to push back the strands of wet hair that hung in his face. "Now, what's going on?! You're acting weird, even for you!"

"…I… I had this really strange dream…"Sora answered, choosing to ignore his friend's jab at his personality, as he put his jacket back on and started to scrounge around some of the boxes in the shed.

"A dream? This is all over a friggin' dream?!"the other boy responded, sounding somewhat disgusted as the first boy stood, having found what he wanted, a small empty box, and set it on the floor, sitting behind it.

"They say it's good luck to tell someone about a bad dream, so, what was it about?" Kairi asked, she had noticed what the boy was trying to do and had found a few twigs and some scraps of paper on the floor and tossed them into the box. There followed a few seconds of silence and the girl realized the boy was looking at her, his face red.

Sora realized she'd noticed and turned his face away as his blush deepened. She looked down at herself and realized that she'd forgotten to ring out her shirt. She stood as her face flushed and used her forearms to cover her chest. The boy took off his jacket and held it out to the girl.

"Here, it's not much dryer than your shirt, but at least you'll be covered,"he said as he rubbed his nose with the back of his other hand, a small amount of blood stained his finger. Kairi took the jacket and slipped it on around her shoulders. While this was happening, Riku had found some viable sticks and tossed them into the box. He shivered and realized the door was still open, and shut it as Sora cast a fire spell on the box.

"Anyway, the dream?" Riku asked.

"Oh! That's right!"the other boy exclaimed as she scratched the back of his neck, Riku looked at his friend with an aggravated expression on his face. "At first, it just seemed to be a bunch of jumbled _memories_. Fighting Xehanort's Heartless and Xemnas, there were also a couple fights with **you**, Riku," he indicated towards the boy, "and a few other images. But then it started to get _weird_, I was in this large field. I felt a strange sensation as I began to disappear; I turned around to find this towering shadow surrounded by… …I don't know what they were; they definitely weren't Heartless, or Nobodies. I pulled out the Keyblade when something seemed to catch my eye. It was this _girl_, it seemed as if she was being attacked. I reached out for her and that's when I woke up."

XXX

Later that day, Sora, Riku and Kairi were sitting out on their usual spot, watching the sunset and talking. Sora and Riku were still wearing the same outfits they were wearing before; Kairi was wearing a light blue tank top and khaki shorts, white tennis shoes a gold necklace with a heart-shaped key pendant with faux diamonds with gold and silver bangles on her right wrist.

"You know, Sora,"Kairi leaned forward to talk to the boy. "You should look on the bright side, it _was_ just a dream, you said yourself most of it was just a bunch of memories."

"A year ago, I would've agreed with you… But too much has happened since then. That dream, it felt so real…"the boy leaned back and stared at the sky, he could see a seagull flying by them.

"Either way,"Riku chimed in, leaning against the tree and staring out at the sea. "You should be on your guard."

"Right." Sora nodded in agreement.

A little later on, Kairi had left, but the two boys were still at the same spot, talking.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this,"Riku turned to his friend. "But when you explained that dream to us, I got the distinct feeling that you weren't telling us everything…"

Sora chuckled and scratched the back of his head as his smile this time almost seemed genuine,"Heh, heh, I fooled Kairi, but I guess I couldn't pull the wool over _your_ eyes… There _was_ more, but I don't really remember enough of it to really make any sense of it… Just this unshakable feeling that I've had a similar dream before…"

"Hmm… Well,"Riku smiled. "Anyway, we should be getting home. Our mothers will have a fit of we're gone much longer. …Well, yours will have a fit, mine will call the police…"

"…You can go,"Sora said as he got that distant look on his face again. "I think I'll stay out here a while longer. Can you tell my mom so she won't worry?"

"Heh, sure."

A bit later, Riku walked up to Sora's house and knocked on the door. The boy's mother answered the door; she was in her early thirties and was of moderate stature with a slim build that had a slight heaviness to it to show that she'd been pregnant before, and large breasts. She had long, curly, brown hair and blue eyes and wore a pink and blue kimono-style housecoat.

"Good evening, Mrs. Hikagi…"

"Oh, hi, Riku!" the woman smiled upon seeing the boy. "You wouldn't know where Sora is, would you? The only time I've seen him today was this morning as he was leaving with you guys for school. (I swear! That boy never eats breakfast! He's getting skinnier every day!)"

"Actually, that's why I'm here (his whereabouts, not his eating habits),"the boy responded. "He's out on the island. He said he needs to clear his head or something, he sent me to tell you he'd be a little late coming home."

"Ungrateful son!"the woman seemed to hear the boy but was rather upset and was starting to pout. "Boy disappears for a year with no warning, then when he does finally come home, he seems to have no time for his only mother!"

The boy looked at the woman as if he really wanted to get out of this situation, the woman began to cry over-dramatically as she continued…

"Just where did the two of you disappear off to anyway?! Why would Sora want to keep a secret from his one and only mother?!"

"Uh, well, you see, that's a bit of a long story…"

"Oh these dramatic teenage years…! Are the two of us never to be close again…?!"

"…Mommy…"a small child's voice could be heard from inside the house. The woman turned around and Riku saw a nine-year-old Denzel (_FFVII: Advent Children_) wearing blue rocket ship pajamas. He was holding onto the hand of a seven-year-old Leena (_Final Fantasy V_), her pink hair had fallen over face in a way that looked like she'd just gotten out of bed and obscured her eyes. She was wearing a pale blue and white nightgown with a picture of a clownfish on the front and labeled with the text 'Finding Nemo'. She was holding onto a stuffed Moogle doll.

The woman turned to the two children, "Ohhh… Denzel, Leena… I'm sorry, did I wake the two of you?" she then turned to Riku. "Excuse me a moment while I put these two back into bed…"

"I should actually get going, Mother's probably on the verge of calling the police by now."

"Oh, yeah, okay…"

That night, Kairi awoke in her bed and happened to look out her bedroom window and saw that there was a small rowboat tied up at the dock on the island.

"Huh? Sora's boat…?"she said to herself. The girl rubbed her eyes, quickly grabbed some appropriate clothes (the same ones she wore earlier, minus the necklace and bracelets) and headed out to the island. After she tied her boat up to the dock, she looked over at the smaller island and saw Sora still sitting on their usual tree; he shook his head as it seemed he were sticking something in his pocket, he didn't notice the girl. He returned to staring up at the sky with that still-same distant look on his face. The girl ran into the beach cabin and went up the stairs.

"Sora?"the girl tried to get her friend's attention as she came up to him from the bridge. It took a few seconds, but the boy finally responded and turned his head towards the girl.

"Oh, hi Kairi…"the boy seemed happy to see her, but his smile still looked forced.

"What are you still doing out here so late?" the girl asked as she pushed herself up to sit on the tree next to the boy.

"I tried going back home, but I couldn't sleep," the boy looked back up at the sky. "I thought maybe if I came back out here I could clear my head…" the boy looked over at the girl and saw that she was a little cold in the night air.

He took off his jacket and placed it around the girl's shoulders, rubbing them a little to help warm her up. He turned back up at the sky, letting his arms fall to his sides, one arm wrapping around the girl and hands resting on the trunk of the tree. The girl's face flushed as she reached for the boy's hand, not expecting it, the boy's hand jerked a little, but compensated as he took her hand gently and held it in his own as the girl leaned on his shoulder. The boy then rested his head against hers.

"May I kiss you?"the boy spoke up after a while, his face flushed deeper as he spoke.

The girl's face flushed too, "S-sure."

The boy looked away as he pulled something out of his pocket, put it up to his mouth and seemed to bite off from it. He moved in to kiss her…

"Wait, if it's all right… I've always pictured our first kiss being, you know, being in a certain place… It's here on the island… Would it be okay if we went there?"

"Okay,"the boy smiled while trying to keep his answer short to hide the fact that he had something in his mouth.

The girl jumped off the tree and indicated to the boy that she wanted him to do the same, so the boy did. As soon as the boy's feet were firmly on the ground, the girl grabbed onto his hand and pulled on it to urge him to jump down from the smaller island and onto the larger one. Once they landed, the girl grabbed the boy's hand and dragged him up to the patio-like structure on the other side of the dock. On the way, the boy spit the item in his mouth out.

"You always pictured our first kiss here, huh?"he said as he slipped his hand up to his mouth and took another bite of the item I his pocket.

"Mm-hmm"the girl turned around and kissed the boy on the cheek. The boy blushed as he wrapped his arms around the girl and moved her so that he could kiss her on the lips. As he did, bit the food in his mouth in half and pushed one half into her mouth. As the item came to the girl's mouth, she seemed to recognize it and pulled away, cheeks burning, holding the tips of her fingers up to her mouth to hold it in.

"P-paopu fruit?"she gasped, her whole face turning pink.

The boy smiled as he blushed and turned his head to the side, "Heh, I know it's just a stupid fairy tale,"the boy placed his hands on the girl's sides and rubbed his cheek against hers; the girl placed her hands on the sides of the boy's shoulders. "But I just had to try it before we lost the opportunity again…" he then began to kiss the girl's ear, who then pulled back and kissed the boy on the lips. After a couple seconds, she pulled away.

"What's wrong?"

"…" the girl wasn't exactly sure what to say."…I don't know, it, it just feels like you're not all here…"She turned away,"It feels like you're not really into this…"

The boy's face turned red with embarrassment this time, he felt he'd insulted the girl, "…I'm sorry…"

"You're just worried, right?"the girl tried to smile. "Then we just need to get your mind off of that dream… …Maybe if you tell me about your adventures, you won't have time to think about it. You did promise you'd tell me everything, anyway."

"But I…"

"C'mon, let's go for a walk around the island. You can tell me everything,"she said as she walked out onto the wood plank path leading away from the patio. When she was a few feet ahead, she turned slightly so that she could see behind her and smiled; the boy blushed as he walked up to the girl and took her hand and they started walking towards the other side of the island.

The boy smiled nervously, "Where should I start?"

"Start at the beginning! Here, I'll start you… The night the islands were attacked…"

"Okay, well, I think we can skip over that… After the islands were destroyed, I was woken up by a dog, who I later learned was Pluto, and I found myself…"

A couple hours later, the two walked out of the cabin and headed across the bridge to the smaller island, holding hands. The girl was no longer wearing the jacket.

"So"Kairi said as they stepped onto the island; she let go of Sora's hand and skipped in front of him a little, clasping her hands behind her back . "Out of everyone you've met, who do you think was the most interesting?"

The boy stopped and thought for a minute, he then looked over at the girl and saw that she was giggling.

"What?"he asked, smiling and laughing nervously.

"Nothing… It's just; I didn't expect you to put so much effort into the question. Tee-hee, you look so cute, thinking so hard…"

The boy blushed as he looked at the girl, and then up at the sky, "I guess I'd have to go with the Cheshire Cat… Could never figure out whether that cat was trying to help me, or if he was just screwing with my head…"

The girl giggled as the boy continued, "Heh, I guess my top five would be him, Axel, Tifa, Phil and Demyx. In that order…"

The two stared up at the stars for about a minute, the girl reached for the boy's hand and squeezed it lightly. The boy squeezed back then released as he looked back down to the ground.

"…On second thought… Switch the Cheshire Cat and Axel… I mean, c'mon! The guy told me the Organization's plans, kidnapped you, tried to kill me, and in the end, saved my life by killing himself! Damn! Just whose side was he on, anyway?! (Reminds me of Captain Jack Sparrow, who should get an honorable mention on this list…) …And that's just what I remember and not to mention his Lovers' Complex with Roxas…"

The girl laughed again, the boy then placed his hand her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek.

"…Thank you, I really do feel better now…"

The girl clasped the boy's wrist as the boy went to kiss the girl one more time on the lips when his head suddenly snapped up and he threw himself down, bringing the girl with him. While they were falling the boy winced in pain and when they landed, the girl saw that the boy's arm was bleeding. Above them stood a humanoid creature about ten-foot, blackish-red, and seemed to have a very muscular body and appeared to be without apparel, but nothing was really visible. It had ears that wrapped around its head with ear holes that somewhat resembled that of some lizard; its head was adorned with gnarly snake-like hair and its right arm seemed to be made of a razor sharp blade. The boy stood, having to dodge another attack from the creature as he did so.

The boy took a couple steps to the side to get the fight away from the girl as the Kingdom Key appeared in his hand. The girl pushed herself up as her Keyblade appeared in her hand and stepped forward to help the boy when he spread his free hand out from his side, indicating her to stop. Looking worried and disappointed, the girl hugged her body to the palm tree near her and sat down as her weapon disappeared from her hand, and tried to stay out of the way.

The creature lunged at the boy, who used his blade to block the attack and pushed it off. The creature recoiled and right as the boy prepared to attack, it swung at the boy horizontally. The boy dodged the attack by ducking and spun around to strike at the creature's right side, but the monster jumped back. It saw the girl and started going after her instead.

'_Dammit! I can't have her getting involved! I have to pull the creature away from this area somehow…' _The boy thought to himself. He ran between the two and cut the creature off, blocking a vertical slash it was about to release on the girl. He rammed the creature, it didn't get knocked down, but it was thrown off-balance giving the boy a chance to run over to its side and ram it again in the direction of the dock, causing it to fall off the island, into the water below. The boy ran over to the bridge to jump down, the girl jumped up and grabbed his right arm at the elbow.

"S-Sora! Let me help you!"she shouted, the sudden stop caused the boy to jerk a little; he turned to face the girl, using his free hand to pull the girl's hand down.

"No, Kairi. Stay up here, I don't want you to get hurt…"he kissed the nape of her neck, the girl's face flushed. He turned around and jumped off the side of the bridge. When he got down, he found that the creature had been a little disoriented after the fall and now turned to jump back up on the island. The boy ran to the side to get a better aim.

"Oh no you don't! Strike Raid!"the boy thrust the Key at the creature, it hit the creature in the side of the head, causing it to fall back down, the Key also hit the creature in the leg on it's way down. The boy grasped it in his hand. As the creature shook itself to its senses, the boy began to run towards it. When the boy hit the water, he looked down at it and then at the creature, which was beginning to charge.

'_Wait, he's in the water…' _the boy thought as he gave a quick glance up to see that Kairi was sitting on her knees on the bridge, watching the fight. _'Good, she's out of the way…' _the boy saw the creature was getting closer and ran along the beach to keep it in the water. He then stopped and held the Key over his head, pointing it straight up at the sky.

"Thunder!"the boy shouted as a spark of lightning shone at the tip of the Key and then came down around the creature, the water it was standing in amplified the attack by surrounding the creature. After the attack finished, the creature was smoking and barely standing.

"Now to finish this…"he said as he pulled a Drive Orb out of his pocket and held it to his chest. "Valor! Give me strength!"The boy seemed to levitate as a white light surrounded him. When it faded, his clothes had changed to a red color was now holding Oathkeeper in addition to the Kingdom Key. The boy charged at the creature when it thrust its weapon into the left side of the boy's chest.

"Ungh!"saliva and blood flew from the boy's mouth as he grunted and his eyes went blank, his body limped up and he fell backwards into the water, the water splashing up around him and his clothes returning to normal; the two Keys disappeared.

"Sora!!"Kairi screamed in terror as she jumped up then down from the bridge and started running towards the water where the creature and the boy were, the creature looked over its shoulder at the girl, her frightened expression could be seen reflected in the monster's yellow, cat-like eyes. It then turned back, grabbed the boy's body and left through a portal of darkness. The girl fell to her knees and she began tearing up.

"No… He's not… He can't be… Sora, no… SORA!!!"


	3. Chapter 3: A New World

Chapter Three: A New World

_A/N: Holy crap, people are actually still reading this?! O.o XD Lol, just kidding. Well, I finally got a review actually saying "Sora's dead?!" So I figured it was high time I actually posted the next chapter… o.o_

"Ugh… What happened? Last thing I remember was… I don't remember…" Sora awoke the next morning in an alley. "W-wha…? Where am I? Gawd, I have a knack for waking up in alleys, don't I?"

He stood and headed out of the alley and onto the sidewalk area. This world he was now in was very different from his own. He was standing on a promenade that looked like it belonged both in the American 1970's and sometime in the near-distant future. Next to him to the left was a small, Brooklyn-dtyle bistro restaurant, a waiter was setting up the outdoor tables; to his right was a pawn shop, the broker flipped over the sign on the door to indicate that he was now open for business. Across the street were a few more shops, they appeared to be a bookstore, an electronics store, a clothing outlet and another small restaurant, there appeared to be apartments above these as a woman could be seen opening the curtains to one of the windows. The sun was rising.

"Am I in another world? But how did I get here?" He said looking around when he suddenly hunched over and grabbed at his chest as if he felt a piercing pain in it. "What is going on?! My heart! It's…" He pulled his hand away from his chest and looked at it, his fingers and the glove he was wearing were stained red with blood. He looked horrified as visions of last night's activities came flooding back to him.

"That, creature… What did it do to me?" The image of the monster striking him in the chest finally came to his mind. "I can't be… Am I,_**dead?"**_ The boy seemed to turn somewhat transparent and fell to his knees as some businessman on his way to the office seemed to walk straight through the boy. He stayed in that position for about a minute or so then shakily stood.

"_**What am I supposed to do?" **_He said to himself as he walked over to the waiter at the bistro, who was placing silverware on one of the tables. _**"Excuse me, sir? Could you tell me where I am?"**_ The man seemed to not even notice him and continued on with his work.

Exasperated, Sora sighed, _**"I guess, the only thing to do is wander around till I find someone who can see me…"**_

He headed off in the direction past the bistro. He soon found himself in a residential area. There really no distinguishing features; just regular two-story houses with fences of different kinds around them, the design seemed to resemble a mixture of Japanese and American architecture of the late 20th century. He walked past a cat that was sleeping on a low brick wall. As he drew near, he stirred and looked in his direction; it jumped up, hissed at him and jumped behind the wall.

"_**Well, at least I found someone that can tell I'm here… Not that it does me any good…"**_ he mumbled to himself.

After a while, he came to a bridge where he saw a couple about his age, they appeared to be Tseng and Elena (_Final Fantasy VII_). Elena was wearing a school uniform with white short sleeve blouse, gray vest and pleated miniskirt ankle socks and black dress shoes. Tseng was wearing an American-style business suit similar to his Turk uniform, except there was some sort of crest over the left breast. They were talking and both carrying backpacks and walking towards a large, red brick building, which Sora assumed to be a school.

A pained expression washed over Sora's face as he watched the two; even though they looked nothing alike, somehow, Elena reminded him of Kairi. He decided to ignore them, they couldn't see him anyway, and continued on across the bridge. When he got to the other side, another person crossed his path. It was Renée, and she was wearing the same school uniform Elena had been wearing. She looked in Sora's direction, paused for a couple seconds, but turned away sharply and dashed off in the direction of the school.

"…_**H-hey! Wait! Come back here!" **_He could tell she had seen him and found his opening, he ran after her, but as soon as he got into the schoolyard, he'd lost her.

XXX

On the Destiny Islands, Riku was wearing a school uniform of white short sleeve shirt, light blue tie and black pants; he seemed to be heading to school. He went to both Sora and Kairi's house, and got the same response.

"_I never saw him even come home last night…" _was the response at Sora's house.

"_We haven't seen her this morning…" _was the response at Kairi's. Riku bowed, turned around, and left.

"What's going on…?" He said to himself after he'd left Kairi's house. After a few seconds, his head snapped up. _'…They wouldn't!' _

He ran up to a point where he could see the island and saw two boats tied up at the dock. "…Their boats are there…" He started to run down to the beach of the island he was on when Wakka approached him; he was wearing the same uniform as Riku.

"Hey Riku! Better get going before you're late for school, ya?" Wakka said.

Riku turned towards him, "Hey. You go on ahead. I need to check something; no one's seen Sora or Kairi since last night."

"I'll go with you."

"No, there's no point in both of us being late, I'll go by myself."

"Well, okay."

XXX

Renée was sitting in a desk in a classroom that, like the residential area and promenade, seemed to have a futuristic look, but also seemed to have influences from American and Japanese classrooms of the late 20th century. The class appeared to be study hall, but many of the students seemed to be doing more talking than studying. Renée was at her desk trying to study, but it seemed more like she was just doodling in her notebook. Sora then made himself visible, crouching next to her, he was now wearing his jacket again.

"_**Hey, I know you saw me outside the school…"**_ He felt he had to be quiet, so he whispered. She looked at him, glaring, he realized he recognized her.

"_**Wait… you… I… I had a dream about you the other night!" **_he exclaimed. She looked away and raised her right arm.

"Yes, Ms. Himmel?"The teacher was Rinoa (_Final Fantasy VIII_) wearing a navy blue dress suit.

"Ms. Heartilly; may I please go to the bathroom?" Renée asked.

"Just remember to take the pass, okay?" Rinoa responded cheerily.

Renée turned to Sora and spoke to him telepathically, _'__Don't follow me…'_

While he was trying to figure out how she was talking to him, she stood, walked up to a hook next to the door and grabbed the green laminated piece of paper hanging from it and left the room. Ignoring her command, he followed her.

XXX

Riku docked his boat on the island and began looking around, but couldn't find either of his friends. He went into the cave, but found nothing. He went up to the tree house, he nearly tripped as a bright colored bird he'd startled flew out, but other than that, no one was in there. Finally, he walked into the beach cabin. It was dark, as usual, and at first he was going to leave when he heard someone crying. He opened the door all the way to find Kairi, hugging her knees to her chest with tears in her eyes. When she saw him, she jumped up and ran towards him.

"Riku! We- Sora- He…" She was finding it difficult to talk through her tears, plus she seemed to have gotten the hiccups. She fell to her knees trying to force herself to talk, she couldn't but it was enough to let the boy know something was wrong.

"Don't strain yourself." He said as he knelt down, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Listen, you just wait here for a second. I'll go get you some water from the spring, then maybe you can calm down a little…"

She nodded weakly as she hiccuped in response. He stood and left the cabin, letting the door shut behind him. She let herself fall so that she was sitting with her legs off to the side a little as she continued to sob a little. He returned with a small glass bottle filled with freshwater and handed it to her. She took it and drank it down. When the water was gone, she let her breath out and looked at the ground as she dropped the jar and her hands to her lap. He knelt back down.

"Now, what happened?"

"…" She was trying to hold back tears as she began to speak. "S-Sora was out here all night. I happened to wake up in the middle of the night and saw that… that he was still out here. And, and, now, now he's… he's… gone…"

"Gone?!"

"S-some c-creature attacked him, and, and took him away!"She could no longer help herself and started to cry all over again, throwing her hands up to her face. The jar in her lap fell to the ground, a small amount of sand kicked up from the impact of the glass.

XXX

Renée stood on the roof of the school staring up at the sky. The wind blew through her hair, brushing it against her face, as Sora made himself visible behind her.

"_**You know," **_he said. _**"I may not know this area very well, but this sure don't look like the bathroom…"**_

She glared without turning around, "I thought I told you not to follow me…" Because they were alone, she spoke out loud.

"_**Did you **__**really**__** expect me to listen?" **_He grinned as he crossed his arms.

"And what if I actually _had_ gone to the bathroom…?" she turned around. "Would you have still followed me?"

"_**I'm a **__**guy**__**…"**_

"So that's a 'yes'…"

He glared, _**"That would be a 'no'…**_**"**

"Please,"she said sarcastically. "You're male, your mind's only on one… Hmm?" She noticed some movement behind him. It seemed too small to be a person, and all she could tell was that it was black. He realized she was looking behind him and turned himself. He instantly recognized what the figure was and turned back to her.

"_**Get outta the way…" **_The figure jumped straight through him and was about to hit Renée when she did a hand spring to the side getting herself out of the way; she landed in a kneeling position.

The figure turned out to be a Shadow, it was trying to figure out who to attack as several more creatures; most of the monsters were Shadows, but every once in a while there would be a Neoshadow. She stood as a frightened expression came upon her face and she backed herself against the wall as Sora ran over in front of her to face the creatures.

"Wh-wha…? Th-these things…!"she screamed.

"_**Heartless," **_he spat and muttered to himself. _**"What do they want…?" **_He tried summoning the Kingdom Key, but to no avail, the glimmering light merely faded without the Key ever appearing. He struck his right arm down as he let out an exasperated sigh. The Shadows began to close in on them, Renée batted her hands through a few of them, but they were not diverted. As a wave of creatures jumped up to attack, a bright light shone around them, taking them out.

Within the light, Sora and Renée were facing opposite each other; she was wearing a simple, white mini dress while he was wearing a white dress shirt and pants. She clasped her hands together and held them to her chest, he held his arms outward at his sides as both closed their eyes. She relaxed her body and arched backwards. He dissipated and entered into her body through the chest. She placed one hand over her chest as a light emanated from the area. When the light dissolved, she was holding the Kingdom Key, ready for the attack with his transparent image over her in the same position.

She did a vertical slash on a Shadow in front of her; it disappeared in a puff of smoke. She spun, attacking two more that that had jumped up to attack her from above. A Neoshadow tried to sneak up behind her and strike at her neck; she ducked to the floor and did a sweep kick taking it and a couple others out with it. Five Shadows tried to jump the girl at once.

_**"Burn!" **_Both Renée and Sora shouted as a flame sparked at the tip of the Key, encircled the girl and extended out to attack the Heartless, reducing them to ash. She ran about, striking at the creatures left and right. She slashed down a Neoshadow in front of her as a Shadow jumped up behind her, she turned sharply as she stretched out her arm and cast a blizzard spell on it.

_**"Freeze!" **_Shards of ice and snow rushed from her hand and engulfed the creature, freezing it solid. She slashed through it, shattering the ice. Finally it seemed all the creatures had been defeated; the Key disappeared from her hand as she fell to her knees and Sora was expelled from her body. He looked a little nervous as she rose to her feet, looked at him and glared.

"Okay, I said it before, and I'll say it now, stay the hell away from me!"She said, choking up as she headed towards the door. A bell chime could be heard ringing, indicating that class had ended.

"_**No. You're the only one I've found that can see me, and I can't leave you. …Especially now since the Heartless have attacked you."**_

She stopped and turned back to him, "So, what connection are they to you? You know them, I mean _really_ know them; I could feel it. You knew when and where to strike, weaknesses, everything."

"_**I am their enemy. They seem to follow me everywhere."**_

"So, they were after you? Then all I have to do is stay away from you!"

"_**Wrong. They'll attack anybody; they feed on hearts. The stronger the heart, the better; but other than that, they're none too particular. They act upon instinct. And you've attacked them… they now see you as a threat."**_

"I wasn't the one that attacked them! You were!"

"_**Doesn't matter. Once we fused, or whatever that was, they saw no difference… Please miss, I really need your help."**_

She saw she wasn't going to win this argument, "What can _I_ help you with?"

"_**I need to leave this world."**_

She scoffed, "Boy, you're looking for the wrong person. You don't need a shaman, you need a guide. Want me to call Botan for ya?"

He realized he'd confused her, _**"No… I don't mean I need to get to the afterlife. I need to get to another world entire…ly…"**_ After he said these words, he slapped his hand over his mouth with an expression that seems to say, "Oops…"

"You mean you're from another world? How did you end up here?" She sounded like she understood what he said and wasn't surprised at all.

"_**You know that there are other worlds?!"**_

"...Some shamans are allowed access to certain worlds for training."

"_**How do these 'shamans' get to these worlds?!" **_He was beginning to get excited.

"W-we have these ships…"

"_**A name! I need a name!"**_

"Gooey, gummy, something like that… Why, what does it matter to you what they're called?"

"_**How do you obtain one of these ships? Can you get me one?"**_

"Look, I never said I'd help you! I just thought I'd hear you out since you wouldn't shut up!" She turned back to the door and opened it.

"_**You really think I'll leave you alone?"**_

"Well, here's to hoping…" She said as she shut the door behind her. After she left, the boy turned to talk to himself.

"_**After the fight, that girl said that she felt that I knew how to attack the Heartless, but I also got the feeling she knew a lot about them too…"**_

After school Renée was walking home, carrying a backpack on her back. A dog ran by and barked at her as Sora made himself visible, walking behind her with his hands resting behind his head. They had just passed by a housewife sweeping the sidewalk when she turned around sharply.

"Will you stop following me already?!"she screamed. Sora let his arms relax and fall to his sides as the housewife got so shocked from Renée's sudden shouting that she dropped the broom in her hand.

"_Are you alright, dear?" _the housewife asked. Renée realized the woman was there and blushed with embarrassment. Sora bent over as he laughed out loud. Renée flashed a quick glare at him, while the woman didn't seem to hear him at all.

"Oh, sorry, ma'am. Yes, I'm fine, it's just this irritating voice in my head…"

"_**Oh, great compensation…" **_Sora said sarcastically as he smirked.

Renée glared again, _'__Shut up!' _she said to him in her thoughts.

"Anyway,"Renée bowed, "I apologize for the inconvenience."She left. Once she was out of sight of the housewife, Sora came up alongside her.

"_**So, what do you know, you **__**do**__** have a nice side…"**_ he smirked.

"Yeah, I usually show it to people who don't annoy me to death!" She returned his sarcasm and smirked back.

"_**Oho. Ouch. That hurt. Why don't you just help me?"**_

She let out an exasperated sigh; she knew she couldn't keep up this charade of not caring, "Okay. I'll help you… What do you need?" Sora's lips curled into a grin that seemed to say, "Ha! I won!" and crossed his arms as she turned to him.

"_**Those ships you mentioned, you sure you don't know what they're called?"**_

"I was just trying to turn you away, we call them gummy ships."

"_**Just as I thought! Now, how would we get one of these ships?"**_

"Through the Patch Tribe, they regulate everything within the shaman community. But there's a lot of paperwork, and you have to be a high-ranking shaman to even be considered. I'm trying to get away from the shamanic practice…"

"_**Ah! Hence the animosity towards me…?" **_he asked. She nodded her head.

"…Well, I am a member of the Patch Tribe, although only half-blood. My mother has some influences in the counsel; maybe I could get them to work you in…"

He smiled, _**"Thank you…"**_


End file.
